Boat bumper



W. D. MARR Sept. 4, 1956 BOAT BUMPER Filed June 20, 1952 INVENTOR.

(Va/fer 0. Maw/- 44 G l" G BOAT BUR/EEK Walter D. Marr, Flint, Mich.

Application June 20, 1952, Serial No. 294,561

2 Claims. (Cl. 114-226) This invention relates to a bumper for boats.

It is an object of the invention to provide a device in the nature of a boat bumper adapted to be mounted on the deck of a boat and provided with a wheel arranged to engage the side wall of a dock or the like with a smooth rolling movement, as distinguished from a snubbing action, and which at the same time is adapted to absorb the shock of the impact of the boat against the dock.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is the front elevation of a boat provided with the bumpers of this invention and showing a bumper on one side of the boat engaging the dock along the side of which the boat is positioned.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the boat and the dock illustrated in Fig. 1 and showing, more particularly, the manner in which the bumper of this invention is arranged on the boat.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View along the lines 33 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view along the lines #4 in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown at a boat of the cabin cruiser type pulled up alongside a dock or wharf 12. The boat has mounted at each side thereof the bumpers of this invention which are generally designated 14. Boat 1% may be provided with one or more bumpers 14 at each side of the boat, at least one of the bumpers being located at the broadest section of the boat and preferably another bumper being arranged near the stern of the boat.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 2, the bumper 14 includes a casing 16 having a cylindrical portion 17 provided with an axial bore 18 and a base 19 provided with a flat bottom face The base 19 is in the nature of an attaching flange which lies in a plane generally parallel to the axis of bore 18. Casing 16 may be attached to the boat by positioning the base 19 with its fiat bottom face 20 on the deck 22 of the boat and securing it thereto as by the bolts 24 so that end 26 of the cylindrical portion 17 projects slightly outwardly beyond the side Wall 28 of the boat. Casing 16 is secured on the deck of the boat so that the axis of bore 18 extends in a direction generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the boat.

Within bore 18 there is journalled a shaft 30 having a yoke 32 at one end thereof. Yoke 32 is fashioned with a pair of spaced apart and arcuately curved arms 34 between the ends of which a wheel 36 is rotatably supported as by means of an axle 3%. Wheel 36 is provided with an inflated rubber tire 49. The opposite end of shaft 39 is provided with a circumferential groove 42, and a pin 44 is arranged to be inserted through a socket 45 which tangentially intersects the bore in the cylindrical portion 17 of casing 16 and engaged tangentially within groove 42 to retain shaft Ed in an axially fixed position in bore 18. ?in 44 and groove 42 are arranged to hold shaft 3t: in a position such that the end face 46 of the cylindrical portion 1; abuts against the end face 48 of yoke 32 when the pin is engaged in the groove. Thus, the

tee Patent C) F 2,761,410 Patented Sept. 4, 1956 ice axial inward end thrust on shaft 30 is resisted by the end face 46 and not by the pin 44.

A chain 50 has one end connected with the head of pin 44 and has its other end attached to the casing 16 as by a cotter pin 52 extending through the base 19 of casing 16 with the ends of the cotter pin bent over the underside of base 19. Pin 44 has a free fit in the cylindrical portion 17 of casing 16 so that it may be readily inserted or removed. The chain 5% insures against loss of the pin when the wheel assembly is removed from the casing. At the same time, yoke 32 has secured thereto a rope or cable 54 having a snap hook 56 at its other end for detachable engagement with a ring fastener 58 fixedly secured on the deck of the boat. Rope or cable 54 has sufiicient slack to permit yoke 32 to pivot freely in casing 16.

It will be observed that by reason of the arcuate shape of the arms 34, the axle 38 on which wheel 36 is supported is offset from the axis of bore 18. This is illustrated more clearly in Fig. 1 wherein the distance to which the axle 38 is ofiset from the axis of the bore 1% is indicated at a.

Normally, the Wheel 36 will overhang the side of the boat as shown at the left of Fig. 1. Since the axle 38 is offset from the axis of bore 18, the weight of the wheel will cause it to gravitate to an upright position with the axle 38 spaced below the axis of bore 18. When the boat pulls up alongside a dock or the like, such as illustrated at 12, with the wheel 36 overhanging the boat as shown at the left of Fig. 1, the Wheel, together with the yoke 32, will pivot into a horizontal plane as soon as the rubber tire 40 engages the side Wall of the dock. The ofiset indicated at a between the axle 38 and the axis of bore 18 acts in the nature of a lever arm which causes the wheel to pivot into a plane such that it tracks accurately on the side Wall of the dock the movement of the boat up and down and in a forward or rearward direction.

Thus, it will be seen that I have provided a boat bumper which is very smooth in operation. A perfect rolling contact as distinguished from a snubbing action is assured at all times with the side wall of the dock. At the same time, the air-inflated rubber tire ii? serves to absorb the shock of impact against the dock should the boat approach the dock too rapidly. In addition, it will be noted that the wheel assemblies are mounted on the boat in a manner such that they can be removed very conveniently and stored when not in use and can be replaced with ease when the boat heads towards the dock. In this connection the rope 54 anchored at one end as at 58 will prevent accidental dropping of the wheel assembly into the water while it is being removed. After the wheel assembly is removed from the casing 16 and hauled to a safe position on deck, hook 56 may be manipulated to disengage ring 18 to enable storing the wheel assembly below deck.

I claim:

1. In combination with a boat, a casing mounted on the boat and having a bore extending generally horizontally in a direction transversely of the longitudinal axis of the boat, a support having a shaft swivelly mounted in said here, said support extending laterally outwardly beyond the side of the boat and having a yoke portion at the outer end thereof, said yoke portion extending from said shaft in a direction inclined to the axis of said bore, a wheel mounted on said yoke for rotation about an axis perpendicular to and offset from the axis of said bore, said shaft having an annular groove extending circumferentially around the outer surface thereof, said casing having an elongated socket extending generally vertically therethrough and tangentially intersecting said bore and a pin in said socket tangentially engaging a portion of the groove on said shaft, said shaft being axially slidable into and out of said bore and said pin, when engaged in said groove, locking said shaft against axial movement in said bore While permitting the shaft to swivel in said bore .and a flexible tension member detachably and loosely connecting the yoke end of said support With said boat, said tension member being of sufiicient length topermit said shaft to be retracted out of said bore when said pin is removed from said socket.

2. The combination called for in claim 1 wherein said pin is freely retained in said socket by reason of gravity and including a flexible chain member connected at one end with an end portion of the pin and at the other end with said casing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 171,981 Brinton Jan. 11, 1876 McAllister July 17, Liddell Feb. 26, Stretch Feb. 16, Rothenbucher June 14, Montanari May 9, Hyland May 20, Larsen July 20, Tormollan, lr. Ian. 8, Walters et a1 a- Mar. 25, Lenci et a1 May 16, Holsclaw Aug. 29, Bittel Nov. 11, Slopa Feb. 3,

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Great Britain 

